Indigo & Violet
by Captain P-Sparrow
Summary: Guertena's Art Museum, although not very popular, is one of the most exotic museums in Tokyo. So it's no surprise that Ikuto would expect nothing but peace from this visit. Right? [Yaoi and trigger warning]
1. Chapter 1

**This story is great for people who haven't played Ib or watched Shugo Chara. No prior knowledge of either are needed in order to read the story. **

* * *

Her purse nagged on my shoulder and pulled on my neck. Meanwhile, she was skipping happily as if it were a meadow she was prancing in and not concrete steps on a cold fall afternoon.

I sighed in relief once we got inside the warm building.

"Hold this," said Utau as she took off her coat and handed it to me. Before I could even place it onto her purse, she had already signed the both of us in and ventured out into the hallways of the art gallery.

Utau practically begged we come to the Guertena's Art Museum. For a girl her age, she has pretty mature taste. Sometimes I think she's just putting on a fluff to sound cool. We all know she's a sucker for attention.

I thought of going after her and sticking by her side the entire time. I didn't like the idea of being here alone since I know nothing about art, but I've got a feeling Utau would complain that I was being "clingy" if I went with her. "_Eh, I have no other motives,_" I thought.

I tried remembering which hallway Utau went to. "_She couldn't have gone that far,_" I thought. My only problem in this pursuit was that I have a god-awful sense of direction. I ended up passing the same paintings several times.

"Ikuto?"

I turned back the corner I passed when I heard my name, but not by Utau.

"You seem a bit lost," said Tsukasa.

"I'm not," I said, already turning my foot to leave.

"I wouldn't take you to be the kind to appreciate art," he said.

"Well, my sis-"

"Come here for a second," he said.

I searched for an excuse to not go over there.

"I want to show you something," he pressed when I didn't respond.

It was too late, I was already by his side.

"See this?"

He was pointing to a purple rose sculpture that I can't believe I missed. It was nearly my own height and looked very real. Even the fallen petals around it looked real.

"Guertena loved using roses in his art," said Tsukasa "He especially liked purple roses because they represent majesty."

I knew he was lying. And I knew I shouldn't give feedback.

"I really have to find my sister," I said "She ran off."

"Well I won't keep you," said Tsukasa through a disappointed sigh.

I didn't care if I was being rude, as long as I wasn't near him. I felt like he was still staring at me. I looked back. In the distance, he made a slight movement, suggesting he was looking, but turned away quickly when I looked back.

I walked faster as if that'd help me. Like a moron, I looked back again and he was gone. I felt better and slowed back to a relaxed pace. I decided to keep going forward so I wouldn't have to face Tsukasa again.

I walked aimlessly for a long time, passing the same paintings and sculptures in this small museum over and over again. I didn't see as many people as I did just a while ago. Actually, I don't see any people at all.

"_Was it always this quiet? Wasn't there music playing?_" I thought "_How long have the hallways been like this?_"

I slipped and fell on something wet. I felt around for something to grip and pull myself on, but my hand ended up plunging into a pool. Not a puddle, a full-grown pool.

Before I could pull away, I got sucked in. The ice-cold water hit me like ice shards. If that wasn't enough, I fell down what felt like a flight of stairs right afterwards.

I tried to sit up, but my vision was still pretty blurry. It was dark, but I could make out a few paintings near me and a door to my right. To my left was a vase with a purple rose in front of another door.

I stood up, noticing this hallway was unusually short. I turned around a few times to examine the area some more only to discover something horrid: the stair case I fell down from was gone. In its place was a solid wall.

The only entrance/exit in the short hallway were those doors. I tried the door to my right, only to find it was locked. I went to the opposite end and moved the table with the vase out of the way to get through the door.

To my dismay and near shock-factor, there was nothing but a tiny room with a painting of a woman. The plaque under the painting said "When the rose perishes, you will also perish." My attention was stolen by a blue key in the center of the floor. I picked up the key because of how odd it seemed. It was plastic and light, but seemed perfect in every way.

"Gah!" I jumped when I looked up and saw the woman had a creepy smile on her face. I ran out of the room and closed it behind me. I saw the purple rose staring up at me from its vase.

"When the rose dies, so will I?"

I took the rose; it was firm and large. I put it in my coat pocket.

Then it hit me.

I ran to the other end of the hall and unlocked the door with the blue key.

I entered a modest pair of green hallways. The horizontal hallway was lined with insect paintings. I went down there first; it was a good size, not as cramped as the blue one. I opened a door at the end and entered an empty room. On the other end of the room was a door. I was about to jump over there, but stopped when I saw a bottomless pit sliced through the middle of the room.

"Why the hell-?"

I decided not to spend the whole night wondering why this floor was cut in half and went back out into the halls.

At the end, I saw a pedestal with a message: "Beware of edges"

I assumed they were talking about the edge of the gash in the floor back there. I shrugged it off and continued down the hall.

"Ouch!"

Something punched me!

A black arm was jetting out from the wall, as I backed away from it, more arms came out. I was careful, but did get clawed another time in the face.

I turned again once I made it to the end. There was another door, but it was locked. I saw another bug painting on the wall, strangely out of place. I sorted out my options and could only think of one: I could use one of the paintings to make a "bridge" over than gash in the floor.

Considering my weight, though, I may want to use more than just one. I grabbed the painting, went back (still trying to avoid getting punched, slapped, or clawed) and grabbed a few more paintings.

I went back into the room and lined up my bridge. The paintings were just big enough. I quickly hopped onto the other side. The paintings gave a bit, but I made it.

I opened the door on the other end and entered the room. Inside was a headless, female mannequin and a green key in front of her. I grabbed the key and she began to roar.

She reached out her hands like a zombie and staggered over to me. I ran out of the room and into the other. Once I crossed over the bridge again, I looked back to see if she followed me. She did.

But her weight was too much and she fell straight through the paintings and into the bottomless pit. I never heard her hit the ground.

I used the green key to open the locked room. The room had a pair of simple cat eyes and a fish-shaped indentation beneath them. I also noticed two doors to either side of the room. I went to the left door first.

There were six medium sized boxed curtains inside. One was opened to reveal a stick figure. "Play hide and seek?" it said before disappearing.

I collapsed to my knees "What the hell's going on? Where am I?!"

I severely hoped I was just dreaming.

"Come, come. come find me~!" the voice pestered "I only want to help you go back home~"

I pulled my sorry-self back up and decided to believe the voice. I really had no other choice. And what harm can a little hide-and-seek puzzle do?

I opened one curtain to see a tiny image of a red hand. "Well that's….lame."

I opened another one to find an even tinier image nude woman. She screeched and tried to slap me, but I pushed the curtains closed before that. Even though that wasn't the first nude woman I've seen, that didn't mean I was any less embarrassed.

I opened another to find the stick figure "You found me! I've got a prize for you!"

I heard the noise of something drop in the front of the room. I walked over there to find a wooden fish head.

I grasped it and quickly ran back outside to put it in the dent. "That must mean the tail's in the other room." My anxiety was now anticipation at solving this mini-puzzle.

I went inside to what looked like a store house, the light were blinking a bit. There were boxes and mannequins of all sorts scattered within.

One of the mannequin busts started moving. It shook and wobbled before finally falling and breaking. A wooden fish tail was revealed to be inside.

"Yes!" I grabbed it and left.

I put the fish tail piece into the hole and a passageway instantly opened up.

I was now facing the middle of a horizontal hallway and the vertical hallway that interjected. I decided to go straight down the vertical hall first. I opened the first door I saw.

Inside were six paintings of children in colorful smocks.

"I agree with the one in yellow," said one.

"Only the white one speaks the truth!" said the yellow-suited boy.

"Stand in front of the statue, go east two steps, then south two steps. That's the answer!" said the white-dressed girl.

Even though I had no idea what they were talking about, I held onto that information when I went through the door between them.

Inside was a statue and many tiles. I realized quickly what I had to do. I followed the directions and lifted the tile. I was instantly sprayed with a pink gas.

Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**I really like the idea of them being in the world of "Ib" I mean, in the 2D game, you, as the player, can see the entire room from a bird's eye-view. But Ikuto has to see everything in first-person view. So imagine all the surprises!**

* * *

I woke up suddenly with full awareness. No drowsiness, so dopiness, nothing.

"Hm? Do you feel any better?"

I looked up to find a man sitting beside me. He was about my age; his purple hair shadowed his dark eyes to a color I couldn't even make out. His coat was odd, it was dark blue with torn fur. It gave me a "Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland" feel.

"You passed out in the tile room," he continued "When the gas hit you, it took out the last of your rose." He handed me the purple rose I collected when I first came here. It looked much more in bloom and voluptuous than before.

"I found out that if you keep watering it in these vases, you can instantly heal your wounds and boost your energy."

I found he was right. I couldn't feel the bruises I had from the hands anymore and the headache I got from inhaling the pink gas was disappearing as he spoke.

I finally found the room to speak "Did you get stuck in here too?"

"Unfortunately," he said "I've been here for nearly two hours."

"Two hours?!" I choked "Where are we?!"

"I-I wish I could answer that, but I don't even know myself," he said "I don't even think we're in the real world anymore."

"What're you talking about?"

"You've seen the things in this place, right?" he said "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we've been plunged into a ghost of the museum," said the man.

"A ghost of the museum?" I scoffed "That's ridiculous."

"It is," said the man "But I don't know any other way to explain all of this."

"Well if we're going to find a way out, I think it's safe to say we should look around together," I said "And team up with anyone else we come across."

"Right, my thoughts exactly," said the man "And since we'll be together from this point on, you may as well know my name. I'm Garry."

An English name.

"I'm Ikuto."

"Ikuto…you say," he said "Well then, let's go on this way since we just came from that way."

We stood up and he walked ahead of me "So Ikuto are you- Ahk!"

He waved his arms about his head frantically.

"What? What happened?" I asked.

He turned around to reveal this clear, sticky substance clinging to him. It smelled of saliva.

"Looks like I've fallen into the trap of these spitting paintings."

On the wall of the hallway was a black painting with a silly red face drawn on it. The tongue was waving back and forth in a way I can almost call cute.

"Great," said Garry "Now I have to wait until it dries off." he removed his jacket, turned it inside out and tied it around his waist.

As he continued, I made sure to stay out of range when the painting spat at me. No wonder I didn't see it; the painting shot spit as quick as a bullet. I didn't even catch its mouth making any movement. Luckily I was able to avoid it, but I made the regretful choice of looking back at the heaping pile of mucus. I nearly threw up right then and there.

"What's wrong Ikuto?" asked Garry as he held the door open for me.

"Nothing," I said, hurrying into the next room with him.

I jumped when I saw the same headless mannequin standing in front of the only door in that small room like a soldier.

"These things are everywhere!" I said.

"And they're heavy too," said Garry "I need your help moving this."

"Stop, it's going to come to life!" I warned.

"It won't," said Garry "Either they were already roaming around or they're stiff as a board. This one's safe."

He knocked on it like a door for humor.

I nervously made my way over to one side of it as the two of us shifted it over. Garry wasn't kidding; it was very heavy. In the end, we chose to just knock it over to get through the door.

We then entered a dark room, not because of the lighting, but because of the black wallpaper. On one side was a painting labelled Grieving Bride (for obvious reasons) and the other side Grieving Groom (again, for obvious reasons). In front of them both were the sculptures Sorrowful Bride's Left Hand and Sorrowful Bride's Right Hand.

"No hands for the groom?" I said. I shrugged at my own little joke.

"Probably another puzzle," said Garry "There's been tons of them. Ikuto, have you collected any items lately that could be helpful here?"

"Nope," I said "Maybe there are some in this hallway down here."

I lead Garry down the hall to find an even bigger hall with two sections on either side. One section had a door (which I could tell was already locked) and the other had a painting of cake.

"Let's try that door," said Garry.

Before I could tell him it was already locked, he opened it and stood there.

"What's wrong-"

"Shh!" he said before closing it slowly "I caught a glimpse of one of the moving mannequins."

My nerves jumped at the thought of one of them escaping.

"We're so lucky they can't move faster than a simple stagger or open doors," said Garry "Let's avoid that room for now."

Then I noticed slight light from behind Garry "There's another hallway down there." I pointed out.

He turned around "Oh yeah."

We walked over to it. The second I took a step on the new section of carpet, dozens of eyes flashed on the floor.

"Yaaah! What is _that_?! Gross is what!" Garry exclaimed.

I froze, unable to look away. These weren't just the beautiful eyes you see on people everyday, these were the horrific eyeballs you see in health class. What's worse: they actually blinked.

"Why are there eyes on the floor?!" Garry continued to exclaim.

"Calm down, calm down," I said, despite panicking myself "We'll just go down the other hallway."

I turned back, grabbed Garry's shoulder and lead him down the other hall. We only came up to more paintings and another door.

Garry gained enough courage to open it before I could even move. Luckily, there were only stools and easels in this tiny room.

"What's that over there?" I asked.

On one stool was something blue.

"It looks like a bottle of water," said Garry.

I stepped over the stools, knocking several over, to pick it up: a larger-than-usual bottle of eye drops. I then remembered one of the eyes in that hallway seemed reddish.

"We could use this on the irritated eye down the hall," I said.

"I'm not going back down there!" said Garry, shaking his head in protest "Besides, what good is that going to do?"

"You were the one who said there were crazy puzzles here to solve," I said "Don't you think this is one of them?"

Garry looked at the ground, defeated.

"How about this," I said "You stay on the end of the hall, away from the eyes, but still close enough for you to see and hear me if anything goes wrong."

I probably shouldn't have said "if anything goes wrong." but Garry said "Okay."

He followed my directions exactly with no protests. I walked around the eyes, careful not to irritate another one by stepping on it with my never-cleaned shoes. Just as I approached the red eye, I looked up at Garry for assurance.

He nodded at me and put on a slight smile. I squeezed out several dropls of the liquid. The bottle was nearly one-fourth empty when the eye finally cleared up.

"_Big eyes need lots of drops,_" I reasoned.

The eye closed, swam across the floor, and stopped right alongside the wall on the other end of the hall. It opened at looked straight at a discolored portion of the wall.

I felt around it for a seem and was able to pull open the makeshift door.

"Hey Garry, come here!" I said.

He shook his head.

I looked inside the tiny room to find nothing but a red glass ball.

I leaned in a grabbed it "Uh, that's okay, you can stay where you are. I got what I needed."

I returned to him with the ball.

He gasped "I know where this belongs!" he said excitedly "One of the paintings down the other hall had a snake eye and the iris was missing."

"There was?" I asked "I wasn't even paying attention."

"It's all about the small details Ikuto," said Garry as he took the ball and raced down the hallway. By the time I caught up with him, he had already placed the ball in. The snake eye didn't react, however, the painting beside it fell down.

I was about to pick it up, expecting to collect our winnings, but instead it was just another clue: "Behind the big tree" the back read.

"Where's a tree?" I asked.

"I never saw a tree."

I groaned and stretched "I'm getting really tired of these puzzles."

"Just think about getting out of here and you won't be so tired," said Garry with the same slight smile.

We spent at least another twenty minutes inspecting the area. I suggested going back to find something, but Garry told me that whenever he needs to solve a puzzle, all the things he needs are in close range.

We encountered a painting that looked like a blue version of the spitting one, but this one giggled like a maniac and asked for our flowers. Of course, we refused. Well, Garry walked away. I left a simple "Hell no."

There was only one more place to inspect: the room where Garry saw the mannequin walking. When I stepped in, I nearly bumped my head. The ceilings were pretty low. I could also see these mannequins were stuck in a maze. The walls of the maze were literally short enough to look over.

"Go Straight South From The Red Paint," read Garry quietly off a plaque "We have to find the red paint."

I glance over the walls of the maze to see if I could see the red paint from where we stood. I couldn't. It's probably on the floor.

Together, Garry and I snuck around, but the suspense was maddening. Overhead, you could see three mannequins were trapped in this maze, aimlessly roaming around, bumping into one another.

Garry clamped my mouth shut before I could scream when a mannequin suddenly came around the corner. We huddled close into the wall to avoid it. It was clear these things were blind and deaf, but they'll attack if you make any contact with them.

My teeth chattered and Garry waited for my nerves to settle before advancing. We crept around for another few minutes before finding a red paint splatter. Then it hit me: how do we know which way is south?

I looked around for an answer, but could only find another mannequin coming our way.

"There!" hissed Garry as he pointed to a switch. We both ran over and scrambled to flick it. A familiar rumbling noise could be heard over us.

"A door opened," I said.

We saw the mannequin getting closer again.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Garry stammered as we rushed to escape the room.

I panted heavily when we finally escaped to safety.

"Uhm…Ikuto? Was that door there before?" asked Garry.

He was pointing to the section where the cake picture was. He was right; a door had appeared.

"Yes!" I rushed over to open it. Inside where four simple sculptures. The first one that caught my attention was Wine Sofa.

"That doesn't look like very comfortable sitting," said Garry, walking up to it "Wine Sofa?"

It was literally a giant wine glass tilted over with a cushion inside. "It looks really comfortable," I said, boosting myself inside "Wouldn't mind taking a nap in here."

"Well…I guess I could use a rest too," I heard Garry say before he climbed in with me.

"Toldya," I slid off my shoes and Utau's items. Garry slid off his coat and we drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Nikaido entered the room, hoping for safety. Inside the small room, he was face-to-face with four sculptures.

He adjusted his glasses when he saw a gleam in the tree sculpture. He went over to inspect it "Oh? A ring?" He couldn't help but pocket the precious diamond.

When he stood back up, he gasped when he saw the two boys lying in one of the sculptures. He gasped because he feared they were dead. The painted skeleton beside him was already making him question if it was simply another art piece or a victim of this demented limbo.

He got closer and sighed a breath of relief when he saw the rise a falls of their chests. He recognized one of the boys: Ikuto.

He nuzzled the boy's shoulder "Ikuto," he whispered "It's me, wake up."

Instead, Garry woke up "Ah…? Who are…you?"

Ikuto soon woke up too, scratching his head.

"Ikuto, it's me Nikaido," he said.

"Who?"

"Yoshino's employee, you know me," said Nikaido "You have no idea how good it is to see you!"

Ikuto tried to use his just-woke-up-two-seconds-ago logic to scrape up memories of the young man before him. Unfortunately, there weren't any even if he were completely conscious.

"Oh Ikuto, is this a friend of yours?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh yeah, this is Garry," said Ikuto.

"Garry, huh? An English name no doubt," said Nikaido.

Garry nodded.

"Well, it's best to be in a group in this situation," said Nikaido.

Ikuto and Garry slid out of the makeshift-bed. Both put back on their jackets and shoes.

"Weren't we looking for a tree before we came here?" asked Ikuto.

"You mean that one?" questioned Nikaido "There was a ring behind it."

"A ring?" Garry gasped "A ring! Let me see it!"

Nikaido handed him the ring.

"It's an engagement ring," said Garry "I know where this goes!" He ran out of the room, pulling Ikuto with him.

The trio went back to where the hands of the wife were. "Let's see…" said Garry "Wedding rings go on the…right? No, left hand." He placed the ring on the ring finger of the left hand.

They all waited.

Suddenly, the bride's and groom's frowns turned to jovial smiles. The bride tossed a bouquet of pink flowers, which landed in Ikuto's arms.

"Hey, we can give this to the painting that wanted our flowers!" he said "C'mon!"

Again, the two youths ran to their next destination while Nikaido was forced to try to catch up to them.

* * *

**And then there were three...**


	3. Chapter 3

"So we all have roses," said Ikuto as the three inspected theirs.

Ikuto's was purple. Garry's was blue. Nikaido's was brown.

"Hey, yours is in more bloom than ours," said Ikuto.

"Well I'm older," said Nikaido "Since they represent our lifeline, I guessed that the more life you've lived, the more petals you've got to lose."

They were resting in a lounge. It had a sofa, window and a few bookshelves. They had solved a few simple puzzles that allowed them to enter other rooms. Entering the number on the boy's shirt in a painting opened one door. Moving the stool to a specific spot in that one room unlocked another door (which took them nearly an hour to figure out).

However, within the second door they unlocked, they encountered a fright.

"Ahh!" Garry shrieked. There was nothing but a mirror in the room, but in his reflection, a white mannequin head hovered over his shoulder.

"Why you…!" in rage, he kicked it to shreds.

There was a moment of silence as Ikuto and Nikaido watched Garry pant lightly from his adrenaline spout.

"_Garry's been confident and calm this entire time,_" thought Ikuto "_I never thought I'd see him pissed off._"

Garry wiped off a thin layer of sweat from his forehead.

"_I guess this place is getting to him too,_" Ikuto thought.

Now they sit here idly in this lounge, fearful of what they may encounter next.

"Garry?" asked Nikaido "How did you get stuck in this gallery?"

"I suppose I came the same way everyone else did," said Garry "I was just visiting for the art. I had to write an essay about an artist, so I figured I should get in touch with my European roots and study Guertena."

"You're Italian?"

"Well, no. My mom's side of the family is from Britain," said Garry, embarrassed to admit so "How about you Ikuto? What brought you to Guertena's?"

"My little sister wanted to come here," said Ikuto.

"Little Utau-chan?" said Nikaido "How cute. I always knew she'd be an artistic one."

There was a heavy banging on the walls.

Everyone froze and got quiet.

Suddenly, the glass window broke and a woman crawled out. The lower half of her body was nothing but a painting frame. The wall broke and more women in different colored outfits but the same stature appeared.

Nikaido tried the door, but it was heavily locked. Ikuto joined him as they tried to break down the door. One of the women clawed up Ikuto's body, but he managed to kick her off.

"Guys! In here!" screamed Garry over the hissing of the monstrous women. He was in the process of crawling out of the hole the women made. Nikaido and Ikuto scrambled over to him without protest, flipping and jumping over furniture just to get to him.

When they exited the end of the tunnel and entered the hallways, they were only greeted by more women and moving mannequins on top of that. They weren't fast, but in numbers, they were dangerous.

As they searched for an escape, they struggled to fight off the enemies.

Finally, Ikuto came across a door and they all piled in.

All three panted and wheezed.

"Ikuto, your bleeding!" choked Nikaido.

One of the monsters had made a slash across Ikuto's belly. The blood wasn't dripping, but it was visible enough to glisten in the light.

"I'll be fine," said Ikuto "It's not like we're stuck in the woods where I could get an infection or anything."

"Th-those paintings," said Garry, who had collapsed on the floor in exhaustion "They came to life. "The Lady in Red" "The Lady in Blue, Yellow, Green" They all came to life!"

"I know," said Ikuto "But in this type of place, we've got no room to question logic. A monster is a monster and they can hurt us. That's all we need to know."

"I-I don't want to go further," whined Garry.

"We can't stay and get attacked again," said Ikuto "We tried to rest in the lounge and look where that got us!"

"But Ikuto it just keeps getting worse! There's probably not even a way out of here," said Garry, his voice cracking "We're as good as dead-"

"You don't know that!" Ikuto now had Garry's shoulders in his grasp "Garry, weren't you gonna get an A on that essay?"

"What are you talking about-"

"You planned to get an A on that essay right?!"

"….R-right…yes."

"Correction: you _plan_ on getting an A, cuz we're getting out of here and we're going home," Ikuto calmed down his tone enough to say "But we can't leave if we wanna give up because we're too scared of what's next. Got it?"

Garry sighed and said "Got it."

* * *

We've been walking in silence for a while now. The tension was pretty thick after Garry's little breakdown. I'm not even sure if I meant what I said back there. Looking at how long we've been here, is escape even an option? Are we just stuck in an endless loop of limbo?

Oh man, I have to piss….

Nikaido stopped and shushed us before we could say a word. I didn't notice this at first, but just to the left of us was a tiny section of roaming mannequins trapped in a maze of velvet ropes and poles.

Nikaido relaxed "They're obviously not that smart," he said.

"Maybe they are, but their senses are just dull," said Garry.

"They can't hear or see," said Nikaido "But if they touch anything that moves, they'll attack it. Just like an animal."

"How is it they can bust open walls, but they can't get past a velvet rope?" I asked.

"Like I said, they're just like animals," said Nikaido "They can only use brute force."

"Well, at least they can't get out," I said "Come on, let's go."

"Wait!" Nikaido jolted suddenly "I passed this area before…but the mannequins were still….and those buttons were unpressed."

"What?" questioned Garry.

"Someone else was here…" said Nikaido.

"Good!" said Garry "The more of us, the better, right?"

"Right," said Nikaido.

"We'd better hurry then if we're going to catch up to whoever was here."

It wasn't long before we found another door to get through. In fact, we only had to go through a straight shot hallway with one turn.

"What the-? The door's open?" A panel read "Abyss of the Deep" on the half-open door.

"This is the first time I've seen a door that wasn't locked in some way," said Garry.

"Someone must've unlocked it before us, then."

We went in, only to find a small room with two shelves, one painting, and….graffiti?

"No" "Don't kill me" "Help" "Stop" all over the walls, floors, and ceilings.

With all the things I've seen recently, this was just child's play. Although, it was still kinda unnerving.

"I don't think this is good for my mental health," said Garry, looking a little pale.

"Just a little scare," I said "Let's just find a key or puzzle piece or whatever we need and get out of here."

We searched the area, but didn't find anything.

Frustrated, Nikaido said "Let's give this place a rest and see if there's another place."

When we left and went back down the hallway, I saw red footprints staining the floor.

Please don't be blood.

"Looks like a man's shoe print," said Garry "It could be the guy that was already here."

We followed the footprints to a door I didn't even notice we passed, and no wonder, it pretty much blended right into the wall.

Walking faster than us, Garry reached the door first…and stumbled backwards out of that door.

"Ah!"

I ran over to him, but someone had already caught him.

"Ah…could you be one of the visitors of the gallery?"

The blonde man pulled Garry straight back up "I'm Tsukasa."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"_No…_" I thought "_Not him._"

He didn't even notice me, all his attention was given to Garry "And who might you be?" he asked him.

"G-Garry."

Nikaido caught up, drawing attention to me.

"Ikuto?" Tsukasa said "You're here too?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

"I suppose you came here the same way we did, huh?" said Nikaido "Well, I'm Nikaido."

"Tsukasa."

The two adults shook hands.

"It's dangerous to be alone here," said Tsukasa "Especially if you're a kid. You two are lucky to come across us."

"Yes, we are," said Garry.

"Well come on then, the sooner we find an exit the better," said Nikaido, leading the way.

"Oh hold on," said Tsukasa "I left my rose in a vase over this way."

We followed him down a short hall with a vase at the end. God, why does he have to be here, especially in this situation? After what he did, I hope he does get crushed by those mannequins.

Tsukasa came back with his white-as-snow rose "Anyone else need to water theirs?"

All of our roses were in such bloom, it almost looked like any more watering would make the petals explode.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," said Garry.

"Alright then, lets go."

We ventured down the other hall, finding (guess what?) another locked door.

We went to the door parallel to it, but Tsukasa stopped Nikaido "You don't want to go in there."

"Hm? Why not?" he asked.

For once, Tsukasa actually looked serious. No trickery or mischief.

"That room is an illusion…" said Tsukasa "When you go in, there's a bunch of bunny ornaments…but if you stay too long, they turn into these horrid dolls for a few seconds. I was able to get what I needed out of there, nonetheless," He pulled out a purple key "I was just about to use it to open that locked door before you found me."

"Well lets go and unlock that door, since there's no other way," said Nikaido.

We walked back, but a sudden thud riveted the wall where a painting was.

"Huh? That sound…it's getting closer," said Garry.

Before anyone could react, a giant flower bloomed out of the painting. We were so focused on that, we didn't even notice the giant vines emerging from the floor. It shoved us out of its way in the process.

I fell into Nikaido.

"Is everyone alright!?"

We stood up, looking at the situation: Nikaido and I were on one side of the vines, while Garry and Tsukasa were on the other.

The vines were vertical and burst through the ceiling. When I touched them, I was shocked to see they were made of stone.

"We can't get through…" said Garry.

"Tsukasa," said Nikaido, grasping these jail cell bars of vines "You've still got that key, right? Try to go through the other room and find an escape route for us."

"Perfect idea," said Tsukasa.

"You two are okay being alone for a little while?" asked Garry.

"Yeah, go ahead," I told him.

But in truth, I was a bit afraid of leaving Garry with Tsukasa.

* * *

**IKUTO. Y U NO TRUST TSUKASA? (that's for you readers to figure out).**

**Oh yeah, the story may change to Mature rating for the sake of the next few chapters. If this makes you uncomfortable, that's your warning. If you're okay with it, just make sure to filter "M" rating when looking for this story.**

**Comments and contructive critism helps, BTW.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Turns out I had this chapter ready for upload a long time ago! Sorry to keep you waiting.**

* * *

"See anything useful?" asked Tsukasa.

"Just more drawing paper," I said, pulling said paper apart to see the bottom of the box "And that's all the boxes."

"Onto the next room then," said Tsukasa, already opening the door.

We encountered a few halls connected by short staircases. The light kept fading and brightening as we passed. It made it hard to see. I eventually bumped into Tsukasa.

"Careful," he said.

My response was another embarrassing act of bumping into him again when I heard a light crash.

A tiny red glass ball had fallen down a stair case. Tsukasa inspected it, then looked up the staircase and smiled "Ah, looks like a clown's missing its nose."

I walked over to where he stood and looked up the stairs too. At the top was a clown face painting with a grayish circle where the nose would be.

"Don't get so spooked, Garry," said Tsukasa "If there's anything I've learned here, it's that this place is all airs."

I nodded as he lead me upstairs and to the next door.

I wonder how Ikuto is doing.

* * *

Agh…crossing my legs doesn't make me have to piss any less now.

"Hey Ikuto, are you okay?" asked Nikaido.

I sighed "We've been here for a while now. I'm just antsy."

"I know, right?" said Nikaido "Especially about that Rabbit Room. I know it's an illusion and all, but I can't help but want to check it out myself." He looked at me "Should I?"

I looked at the door across from us, thinking about what could've scared Tsukasa enough to warn us about us.

"Yeah," I told Nikaido, despite my fear. At this point, any door was a potential step closer to finding a bathroom.

Nikaido opened the door and, of course, there were rabbit ornaments in there. I wondered how long "too long" would be until those rabbits started looking like monsters. Would the room gradually change or would it change in a flash? I didn't really want to wait to find out.

I noticed a tiny slither of black behind one of the shelves. I walked up to it to see it was a gap in the wall. "Nikaido, help me move this book case."

Together, we pushed it over to reveal another tunnel in the wall.

"A way out!" said Nikaido as he crawled through. I crawled behind him.

We came up to a big room. On the side closest to us, there was a door. I tried it, but it was locked.

"We need a key?" asked Nikaido.

I nodded.

We scanned the floor and walls for a short time. I didn't find anything.

"I bet if we fill that square hole in the floor, it'll open," suddenly said Nikaido.

I looked to where he was pointing to find a perfectly square hole. There's definitely something to be put in there.

On another side of the room was a row of cords I didn't see, like the kind on Mom's old lamps.

"Well, nothing else to do but mess with these," I said, twiddling one. I pulled it and the lights went out. I pulled it again to turn the lights back on.

Nikaido pulled another and got sprayed with a purple gas. He coughed and hacked. I covered my nose to avoid inhaling it. I pulled one and a black arm came out from the wall next to me and tried to slap me, but I punched it away out of reflex. It receded back into the wall.

Nikaido stepped back at arms-length before pulling one of the last two. We both waited for the worst, but nothing happened.

* * *

Tsukasa caught me suddenly my the shoulder.

I gasped in surprise "Wh-what's wrong?" I stammered.

"You didn't see the…" he trailed off as he pointed to the gap in the floor that my foot hovered over.

I shook a little in shock and receded into his arms.

"I didn't even notice…" I shuddered.

"You've got to be more careful," said Tsukasa.

A shadow grew beneath our feet. "Huh?" I looked up to see green, jelly-texture square slowly descended onto the gap across the floor.

"Hey, now we can cross!" said Tsukasa.

I walked up to the square and put one foot on it. It made a friendly "boing" sound as I stepped on it. It's weird to say how happy that made me, seeing this small cute thing in such a scary place really reassured me.

"Tsukasa!"

I jumped when I heard Nikaido's far-away and echoed voice. It was coming from the gap! I dropped down to my knees and looked down to find Ikuto and Nikaido below us "Ikuto! Nikaido! You got out?!"

"Yeah!" said Ikuto "Listen, is there, like, a box or something up there!?"

Tsukasa, who had already crossed, picked up a blue-topped box "Like this?"

I hovered it over the gap "This?!"

"Yeah! That! Just drop it down!"

Nikaido grabbed the box and put it in the gap. The sound of the door unlocking could be heard.

"Yes!" We rushed over to the door.

The first thing we saw was a bug-eyed doll in front of a few paint strokes on the wall. I walked closer to it to see the paint strokes were actually a message: "Hey guys…I don't like being alone…take me with you…!"

"Isn't this one of the monster dolls Tsukasa said was in the illusion room?" I asked.

"Could be," said Nikaido "Maybe we-" he gasped.

I looked where he was looking. There sat the same doll halfway across the hall.

I looked in front of me to see both the message and the doll were missing.

It moved…

We carefully walked up to it. This time, its message said "Hey, why aren't you taking me?"

I gulped. "Nikaido…" I shuddered "Maybe we should take the doll."

"No, it's obviously dangerous," he said "Most likely a trap. Come on, just keep going."

The doll teleported as we navigated through the halls, Nikaido didn't stop for them, but I slowed down just enough to read the messages as we passed.

"Why are you ignoring me? Do you hate me?"

"Hey, play with me! I know lots of fun things we can do…"

"I've got lots of friends too…I'll introduce you!"

"Be here forever…"

The last one blocked the door and didn't have a message, thankfully. I feared we would start getting angry, threatening messages from the doll.

Nikaido slid it out of the way with his shoe. He probably hasn't looked at a single message.

My heart skipped a beat when letters suddenly appeared beside the door: " E"

The door unlocked and opened.

We entered a large section of more paintings.

"Ugh…"

Nikaido looked back at me "What's wrong?"

I knew I couldn't keep this secret that long. Might as well say it. In this situation, I've got nothing to lose "I have to use the bathroom."

"Oh…we have been here for a long time haven't we?" said Nikaido "And we haven't come across a single washroom…yet."

"Yet?" I questioned.

"Well there's been nonstop surprises," said Nikaido "We can't really say a certain room doesn't exist here. I'm sure we'll find a bathroom. Hey, we might even find a kitchen to find some food."

"Ah…sure," I said.

Nikaido opened the door behind him. Locked as usual. We were about to enter another door, but there were a pretty strong odor coming from it. It smelled like pure chemicals.

"That smell is already giving me a headache," I said.

"Let's not go in there right now," said Nikaido.

I turned around to find something else to interact with, only to find another scare.

"Ni-Nikaido…!"

I saw the doll again.

"Just ignore it Ikuto," he said.

He walked off to try to open another door, but I couldn't help but read the message: "I'll always be with you…home is just nearby…"

What does this thing want….?

"Ikuto!" Nikaido broke me out of my deep trance. Apparently, I was zoned out long enough for Nikaido to find out a new discovery. "There's a puzzle in this room. We have to find seven balls of paint and put them on the podiums."

"Oh, ah, okay."

* * *

I had to say something. This unnerving silence between us is killing me.

"So…uh Tsukasa, do you know Ikuto?" I asked.

"Yes, I do," he said "You mean to say you haven't?"

"No."

He snickered very quietly.

"Hm?"

"I assumed you two were…together," he said.

"Wh-what? What?!" I felt my face burn red.

He snickered a bit more "You seems like the type of man he'd go after."

"Re-really?" I didn't even think Ikuto liked men. He seemed so…tough. I felt really uncomfortable at this point. I didn't think this was a fair topic to talk about between strangers. How could he openly expose Ikuto's orientation to someone he only met an half an hour ago?

"Say, Garry, can I ask you something?" asked Tsukasa.

"Sure," I said.

"Did you get caught in a Spitting Painting?"

"_Oh dear, was the dried saliva still there?_"

"It doesn't help just to wait until it cracks off," laughed Tsukasa "Come on, we'll wash it off."

"Wash it off?" I questioned "Where?"

He started leading me down the hall as he spoke "I found this bath area a while ago. It has two exits and one of them leads here," he said "I just now realized it when I saw the area."

After walking down the hallway even more, we came across a secret door. I say "secret" because the only thing defining it was a doorknob. I've been seeing a lot of those lately.

"I'll just take a quick wash and then we get right back to finding a way to meet up with Ikuto and Nikaido, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Tsukasa.

* * *

**So many intense things planned for the next chapter.**

**MUAHAHA.**


	5. Chapter 5

**After this chapter, I'm changing the rating the T to M. (trigger warning)**

**IDK if I used third-person narration in this story yet, but just to let you know, it won't be hard to spot. The only two people who've narrated so far have been Ikuto and Garry after they separated.**

* * *

Nikaido opened the door with what looked like a tree icon over it. We entered the two-sided room with bookshelves so short, you could look right over them.

Beyond one, I could see a pink ball of clay….no, paint?

"Hey, paint!"

"Where?" asked Nikaido.

"Over there," I tried to move to bookshelf over to get to it, but it seemed bolted to the floor.

"I can't get it," I muttered.

Nikaido tried to shove it, but he couldn't even make it budge. The same story went for the other two bookshelves. Even though they were all short enough to look over, that didn't mean they were short enough for either of us to climb over. So that option was crossed off the list too.

We went to the other side of the room and continued searching for something else to help us. Five minutes into the search, I was on all fours scanning the carpet for anything. Any key or speck of paper or splotch of paint could define whether we get out of here or not.

When I stood up, I harshly hit my head on a book jetting out from the bookshelf.

"Are you alright?" asked Nikaido, whipping his head around.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging it off.

I noticed I knocked over the book when I hit my head on it. By force of habit, I picked it up to put it back, even though I could've left it and it wouldn't matter. However, I stopped when I saw a dark green ball of paint fall out of the pages.

Nikaido bent down to pick it up "Ah, here's another," he said, happily "They may not be as hard to find as we though." Suddenly, it vanished into dust from his hands.

"Wh-wha…?" was my response "Where did it go?"

Nikaido waved around his hand in equal surprise and confusion, as if the ball would just roll out of his sleeve or something. Then he stopped "Wait here," he said "I'm going to go check on that painting room. Maybe it transported there."

"Oh, okay," I said.

He left the room.

Even though he would only be leaving for less than a minute, it felt like I was abandoned in the woods for weeks. Time sure dragged out here.

I got fidgety, and randomly picked up a book to keep me busy. "_This place is loaded with books and we never read a single one of them_," I thought as I opened it "_There could be clues right in these pages._"

I flipped to the very first page and silently read:

"Being alone is fearful. A group of two can have relief. A group of three…" The rest of the page was torn off.

I gulped at this, shut the book closed, and tossed it aside. That is not at all something I want to have in my mind right now.

I jumped when the door suddenly opened and Nikaido announced "Good news, the ball of paint _did_ transport directly to the pillar. Also, do you remember the room with the funny smell?"

"Yeah."

"There was another ball of paint in there too," he said "I was able to hold my breath and run in for a split second to get it. My rose got a bit wilted, though. I wouldn't recommend going in there again."

"Are you saying there are actual fumes in there?" I asked as I exited the room with him.

"Yes, so don't go near any red fumes you see," he warned.

I accidently kicked something as we walked: a yellow ball of paint.

"This is almost too easy," I said happily as I snatched up the ball in victory before it disappeared.

"I have to say, this has been our easiest puzzle yet," said Nikaido "Come on, they're probably scattered everywhere by now."

We walked around the same carpeted paths gleefully, and he was right. It didn't take long to find something. Unfortunately, it wasn't a ball of paint.

"Hey, what're you doing? I wanna play too…"

The doll was back again.

I shuddered at the sight of it next between a vase of water and the tree room.

"Oh? Ikuto, what's wrong?" Nikaido came back and saw the doll "Just ignore it. It's not important right now."

I was frozen in fear.

This little doll. Something…it's more than just a scare tactic…I know it is.

"Ikuto!" Nikaido scolded, making me jump.

He pulled me into the tree room immediatley. Once inside, he gave me an impatient look, which quickly softened as he exhaled. "I'm sorry," he said "I don't want you getting too sidetracked or scared."

I felt embarrassed a little, like a kid getting scolded by their parent, but then has to turn around and forgive them when their parent apologizes for loosing their temper.

"Come on," he said "Let's keep going."

I hope Garry is doing better than I am….

* * *

My wet clothes hung on a towel rack far away from any of the shower heads. The friendly yellow lightbulbs were intensely muffled by the thick steam. With one hand, I held the towel all the way up to my collar bone. With the other, I wiped the fogged mirror to look at my reflection. The weight of the water made my hair perfectly straight; some soap suds still clung to the edges.

"Done already?" he asked.

I saw an obscure reflection of Tsukasa in the mirror. He was much closer than I thought.

"Our clothes aren't even clean yet," he said, scrubbing out his shirt draped over his arm.

"I don't want to take too long," I said "We still need to find a way to meet with Ikuto and Nikaido."

"But they seem fine on their own right now," said Tsukasa, rising out his shirt in the basin beside me. I couldn't help but clutch my towel closer to my body the closer he got to me. I know it's immature thinking since we're both men; call me reserved if you will.

At that moment, I realized Tsukasa was gazing at me, not in a blunt or rude way, but very subtle and friendly.

"Is your hair naturally that color?" he asked "Highlights and all?"

"Yes," I said "Uhm, Mr. Tsukasa, I mean, Tsukasa-san, I don't think we should be just waiting here. We-"

He put his hand on my bare shoulder "Relax," he said very reassuringly "It's not good to keep going without a break." I don't know why, but my skin kept shivering at his touch. I tried my best to ignore it.

"I know you're exhausted, Garry," he said "You need to relax."

I didn't really feel like there was anything to say, so I simply nodded.

Tsukasa pulled over a small glass bottle that had been sitting on the counter for a while now. I thought it was soap until he opened it said

"Here, I know you're thirsty," it smelled sickeningly sweet "You're seventeen, right? I think you can handle a bit of wine."

My nerves flinched a bit at the offer of liquor, but at the same time, I have gone hours without a so much as a single drop of water.

I carefully accepted the bottle. It was about the size of an average water bottle. I sipped from it. It tasted like stale grape juice; I didn't like it, but my thirst was finally quenched. My next sips turned into gulps. Thankfully, I was able to stop myself to allow Tsukasa the other half of the wine.

"I knew it," he said before taking a few modest sips himself.

* * *

"_I just drank wine. I guess it shouldn't be that much of a problem, right? I mean, back then, all they could drink was wine. Wine was like water back then. Was wine really that much easier to get than water? I mean, there are more ingredients in wine than water. Grape juice and alcohol…how did they make the alcohol? What is alcohol made of?_"

Garry started snickering for no real reason as his brain rambled on and on.

"What?" questioned Tsukasa.

"Ehh…I dunno," Garry sighed, followed by more snickers.

"_Uh oh, I think he drank more than he could handle,_" Tsukasa frowned a tiny bit "_I didn't count on him being that thirsty…_" he thought as he glanced at the half-empty wine bottle "_This was not the best day to grab wine instead of water._"

Garry's cheeks grew pink and his eyes glazed over. His pale lips were pulled into serenely calm smile, which would then part whenever he broke out into contained snickers again.

"_A perfect opportunity,_" Tsukasa quickly cast out the evil thought "_No, not again. You can't do this again._"

"Hey Tsukasa…" said Garry after finishing another snickering fit "What you said earlier about me being Ikuto's kind of guy…."

"Huh? Uh, yeah?" the blond man said, snapping out of his mental argument "What about it?"

"You weren't…kidding were you? asked Garry "I mean, I am kind of odd-looking. Why would anyone _like_ me?"

"I don't think so," said Tsukasa, pitying the teen's insecurity "You're a very handsome man, Garry."

The adolescent's blush deepened as the more sober part of him caught this, but he had been complimented, so he said "Thank you..."

Tsukasa saw an opening with his kindness. He knew he was over-stepping his boundaries again. For the second time in his life, he was fighting with his inner demons. And just like the first time, he knew he would end up on the same side as them.

He caressed the violet-haired boy's cheek "I'm not just saying that either," said Tsukasa, his voice lowering "People would kill for looks like you."

Garry's nerves grew hot as his hormones sparked from the innocent gesture. He began to scoot over, but Tsukasa caught him with the loop of his arm around Garry's toweled waist.

"Are you blushing because you've had too much wine? the elder teased.

"I-I guess…" Garry muttered.

"_Hm, I suppose I'll be breaking that promise now,_" Tsukasa thought evilly as he rested his hand on Garry's bare thigh. However, the adolescent hardly noticed the small touch.

"So Garry," he eased in "Have you ever dated?"

Garry softly shook his head no.

"Then I guess you don't know what it feels like," sighed the blond, holding back a smirk.

"What _what_ feels like?" asked Garry as he looked up at his elder.

Tsukasa pressed his lips onto Garry's, who, at first, prepared to back away, but couldn't find the strength in himself to do so. The kiss only lasted a short second because Tsukasa pulled away, lingering a bit. He was teasing him yet again, leaving the boy wanting more, despite his fear of what just happened.

Tsukasa repeated this once more, this time Garry followed his lips as they pulled away.

"_I've got him._"

On the third kiss, there was no teasing and no boundaries. It didn't take long before Tsukasa's tongue entered the equation, forever silencing any protests Garry had. Garry's heart skipped a beat in his chest. An often absent throbbing between his legs grew. He gasped tiny bit as the elder maneuvered him so he'd be straddling his lap. As they kissed, Tsukasa's hands subtly navigated their way about the adolescent's body. One hand ghosted over the incline of Garry's back, clung itself onto his towel and began to slide it down, stopping just above the crack. The front of the towel followed the same path, falling right onto Garry's member.

"You like that don't you?" whispered Tsukasa against his victim's ear.

Garry shivered.

The blond man could laugh at Garry's innocence right now. "Do you want _more_?" He gained a whimper from Garry as he grinded his stone-hard shaft against the teen's inner thigh. Garry tightly gripped Tsukasa's shoulders, resting his head on his chest as he realized what he was being offered "I-I can't…no…"

This was not the answer Tsukasa wanted.

"Ah!" suddenly Garry's sensitive member was now in the man's lustful grasp.

"I think you're lying to me, Garry," taunted Tsukasa as he stroked "There's no reason to lie, though."

The teen shuddered, sinking more and more into Tsukasa's frame as his boundaries were stripped away.

"Come on, Garry, tell me the truth."

An intense combination of pleasure and fear ran rampant throughout the adolescent's body. He couldn't make heads or tails of these feelings. "Ah…ah-!…nng….! mmph…" His pleasurable noises were cut short as Tsukasa quickly put Garry on his back, laying against a make-shift bed of disheveled towels on the cold linoleum floor.

"Ah! Tsukasa!"

Garry trembled under the man's weight.

"St-stop!"

Garry struggled as the man carelessly flung his towel off of his weak body.

"Get off of me! Don't do this, please!"

Garry's body had been weakened so much that his cries were reduced to moderate-volumed hoarse protests. His limbs were too heavy to lift. All he could do was close his eyes as his blue rose on the sink rotted away, browning as it lost more and more petals...


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry for the long update! As fellow fanfiction-writers, I'm sure I don't have to explain why this happens.**

**BTW, I just found out yesterday what a "trigger warning" is, so before I uploaded this, I put that at the top of my last chapter. I apologize for that error.**

**There is also a trigger warning for this chapter as well.**

* * *

"I picked up something good… I'm making it my treasure!" Yet again, the doll was taunting me with the messages that Nikaido managed to ignore without any really effort. Also yet again, the doll moved places.

"Weird, its stomach looks bloated now," I heard Nikaido say.

I noticed he was referring to the doll. It was both shocking and glorifying that he was finally giving it some attention. His next move shocked me.

He ripped the doll's stomach open like it was nothing! I felt a little shaken that I expected to see blood and guts instead of cotton and…a red ball of paint?

As expected, the ball disappeared when Nikaido picked it up and claimed it.

I felt like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. The doll was finally destroyed and it wouldn't taunt me anymore. Finally-

I yelped. The doll moved….

It _ran_….into the room.

* * *

"Wasn't that door locked a minute ago?" I asked.

I didn't get a response from Ikuto. He just stared blankly at the door with a glazed look in his eyes.

"Ikuto?" I tapped his shoulder "What's wrong?" I grabbed his shoulder and gave him a tiny shake.

He effortlessly walked out of my grasp and into the room before I could do anything about it.

"_He was so scared of that doll,_" I thought "_Now he's following it?_"

I tried to walk in with him but the door slammed shut in front of me. I grabbed the knob to try and open it back up.

Sadly, it was locked again.

* * *

"Oh…really….?" giggling.

Laughter "Oh, yeah….maybe…yeah, yeah…."

"Ikuto? Ikuto snap out of it!"

"…don't see that in just any manga, right? I found it yesterday…."

"Come on! It's me, Nikaido!"

"Oh, it was awesome, but it takes a while to get the plot…"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"You saw it, too? That was _so_ funny!" Laughter.

We were in a room full of bunny ornaments (that I could have sworn were those evil dolls again...). Ikuto sat happily on the floor with a stuffed rabbit in his lap. He seemed to be talking to it and recieving answers.

I heard the door creak open behind us. I looked away from Ikuto to see Tsukasa and Garry.

"…Ikuto…?" Tsukasa said "What happened?"

"That damned doll," I said "It lead him to this room and locked him in. I was able to break off the knob, but when I got here…"

"Yeah, my sister Utau doesn't like it. She says it's for fujoshi's," he said "Ooh! I never heard of that one. Can you tell me where to get it?"

"What do we do?" I asked.

Garry looked scared and jittery. Tsukasa had a stoic look on his face. He knelt down to Ikuto's level, just inches away from his face. He raised his right hand and…

_SLAP!_

Garry gasped sharply and I cringed from the sudden action. However, I couldn't blame the man. We were desperate and in this situation, the last thing we want is for one of us to lose our grasp of reality.

Ikuto fell on his back, his cheek vastly turning red in the shape of a large hand. He blinked a few times as if awakening from a sleep.

"Oww! Who did that!?" he growled.

"No way…he's back?" I found myself saying in disbelief.

Tsukasa sighed "Thank god it was that easy."

Ikuto then stood up as he realized the entire group was reunited "Garry, Tsukasa! Where are we?"

"Very close to the end," said Tsukasa "I found an exit, but I came back to get you-"

"You did!?" exclaimed Ikuto.

I was at a loss for words. I could only summon mumbles and stutters.

"Come on," said Tsukasa as he lead the way.

* * *

I couldn't believe it. After countless hours stuck in this hellhole, we were finally going home. I could see Nikaido was just as excited as I was, but in a serious situation with children, he was trying to contain his composure.

"I walked outside of this painting to make sure it was really the exit that lead to the actual art gallery," explained Tsukasa, mainly to Nikaido.

Garry, who I could suspect to be the most talkative, was very quiet and wore a blank look on his face. He also looked pretty pale.

"Garry, are you okay?" I asked.

He looked at me with somewhat blood-shot eyes "Yes," he said in a hoarse voice "I think my rose just needs to get watered."

"And that's another thing," interjected Tsukasa "When I went out, the state of my rose didn't affect me at all. I was perfectly fine."

"I would think so," said Nikaido.

Finally, the painting came up. The picture vibrated as though it were jello or shaken water. When I got close to it, I could hear the music and conversations of the people.

Because it was such a large painting, Tsukasa and Nikadio could climb out of it at the same time. Garry and I followed the same ritual.

We were home…we were actually home.

I don't think any of us could express that feeling of relief and the faint feeling that maybe it was all a dream. But I'm sure we all shared the same single thought: let's get the hell out of here and never go to another art gallery again.

Even as we walked towards the exit, Tsukasa and Nikaido still had questions "I'm just so glad we were able to get out of there and everything is back to normal, but where exactly were we?"

"It couldn't have been a limbo state, because look," Tsukasa showed him his phone "Time was still going on without us. Four whole hours."

"Four hours?" I questioned "Oh no, I left Utau in here for four whole hours. Knowing her, she probably already called Mom and Dad to pick her up." I sighed and looked over at Garry. I couldn't help but notice he really didn't look any more healed then he did before.

"_What's wrong with him?_"

"You know, Tsukasa, I noticed that not every injury is healed by water vases or going into the outside world," said Nikaido "I bruised my wrist while I was in there and no matter how many times I watered my rose, it never healed. I think injuries that weren't caused by the gallery props have to heal like normal ones."

We exited the doors of the art gallery into the dark night. The bright colors of stores' lights brought comfort and the steady flow of traffic and people made me forever grateful.

"...Ikuto?" finally asked Garry "My parents are out of town at the moment…do you think I could stay over at your house?"

"Sure," I said "I wasn't too happy about going home to an empty house, myself."

"Huh, what about your sister?" he asked.

"Oh, I started living by myself a little while ago," I said "I just volunteered to take my sister out today while my parents stayed at home. I can tell they won't be asking me to do that again."

Garry smiled for a brief moment.

* * *

"Thanks for driving us, Nikaido," I said as I exited the car.

I could barely hear him say something like "Anytime" or "No problem" behind the roaring engine and traffic.

Garry and I picked up his bags and entered the apartment.

After we got up to the elevator, I heard a very quiet pained groan from him. When I looked over to him, he straightened up his posture.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He hesitated a little bit before saying "I...uhm…have a back ache."

"Oh," I said just as the elevator beeped open.

After we went in, I checked my phone to see what time it was. Utau and I went into the art gallery around six. It's ten-thirty now.

I looked over at Garry again. He was so quiet. Even when we got off of the elevator and walked to my room, he was quiet.

"_Every time there was a moment of silence at the gallery, he'd talk up a storm_," I thought "_I thought he'd be over-the-moon chatty once we finally made it out. Should I ask him something?_"

"Hey Garry," I started.

The bedroom door was visible from where we stood and that's where he was heading. He looked back at me, but I choked up.

"Uhm, are you hungry?" I ended up asking instead.

He shook his head no.

"Are you sure? We were in there for a while," I said "I'm getting myself a bento box."

"No, but thanks anyway," just the sound of him saying anything at this point was comforting.

* * *

A noise woke me up.

The sky was light blue, it had to be about four in the morning. "_Oh right, Garry was staying over_," I remembered. I ran my hand over the other side of the king-sized bed to see he wasn't there.

Concerned already by the recent events, I got out of bed and walked over to where I heard the noise. It sounded almost like someone stumbled and just barely caught themselves. Now thinking about it, I would think it was Garry. But why did he fall…in the bathroom?

The light was out but I could hear his breathing followed by a groan in pain.

I opened the door "Garry?" he was on his knees, wincing as if something was hurting him right now at this very moment.

I knelt down in front of him "Garry, what's wrong? What hurts?" I felt something wet on my knee.

Blood.

I heard a steady drip and looked down. The pre-morning sky lit up the bathroom just enough to see the dark liquid dripping from Garry's thigh.

He sniffled a bit.

"Garry…" I just barely managed to say "What did you do?"

In a trembling voice he said "I didn't do anything…he-" sniffle "Tsu…kasa."

My mind instantly froze "_No,_" I thought "_He couldn't have. Not there. Not in that situation._" I looked back down at the few droplets of blood on the white tile floor. "_Even in a deathless place like that…that bastard still finds has the guts to do this again._"

Suddenly, another liquid fell on my hands: tears.

Garry's wavy hair covered over his face, but I could still see the water line his quivering jaw "I-I-Ikuto…" he sobbed "I-It hurts!"

I could feel a lump in my throat as I remembered my own experience, but I knew I had to stay strong for him.

I swallowed my fear and put my hands on his shoulders "Garry," I said. He looked up into my own eyes. "Did he threaten you afterwards?"

Garry wiped his eyes "Yes…"

* * *

I let out an exhausted and agonized moan as he pulled out of me. The blood finally returned to my arms once he released me, creating painful bruises. I shuddered as I felt his fluids ooze out of me.

I shook and whimpered as he walked away to wash himself off. I suddenly felt extremely cold, causing me to shiver even more and clutch the dirtied towels as blankets.

I felt arms wrap around me. I instinctively cuddled into them for safety.

"Shhh, don't cry…" cooed Tsukasa, his warm breath reaching my hair "I know I was a bit rough."

He gently lifted my chin up to kiss him. After that, he nuzzled against my hair and softly kissed my cheek. It's as if he just can't get enough of me.

"Garry," he said in a very soft tone "You know people wouldn't like what happened here."

I don't know why, but I suddenly tensed.

"I'll tell you now Garry," he said "Your life will go by much easier if you promise not to tell a soul."

I shuddered and swallowed hard, but manage to mutter "Okay…"

* * *

**You thought this story would end when they got out of the gallery? No my friend, it is FAR from over! =D**


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